An infectious disease expert believes the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been an "unmitigated disaster" and the rapid spread of the Omicron has made another variant a near certainty.
"The whole world is a playing field for the virus right now," Dr. Madhukar Pai, an expert in infectious diseases at McGill University, told CTV National News.
Pai warned that "there will be mutations" after allowing millions of unvaccinated people across the globe to become infected. He says they're now "incubating" billions of different virus particles.
"There is no saying what that next variant might look like," Pai says. "We just lucked out with Omicron."
The solution to slowing the spread of COVID-19 remains the same as it's always been, according to Pai, and that's ensuring global equity and access to vaccines.
However, Pai isn't particularly optimistic about an improvement in global coordination, saying that most world leaders have proven "simply incapable" of looking outside "national boundaries."
"Each country has gone isolationist," he warned. "Each country has bought into populism as a way forward."
Watch more of this interview by clicking the video at the top of the article.
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Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
A Manitoba man who pleaded guilty to keeping the funds raised from an ice-fishing fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba has been handed a sentence of 18 months house arrest.
A funeral is being held today for hockey broadcasting legend Bob Cole in his hometown of St. John's, N.L.
A Manitoba man who pleaded guilty to keeping the funds raised from an ice-fishing fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba has been handed a sentence of 18 months house arrest.
The jury deciding the fate of a man responsible for a fatal firebombing in Sudbury found him guilty of three counts of first-degree murder Friday afternoon.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
A new pilot program which will notify the public of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people is set to be implemented in Manitoba.
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York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Spain scrapped an annual bullfighting award on Friday, prompting a rebuke from conservatives over a backlash against a centuries-old tradition they see as an art form but which has run into growing concern for animal welfare.
A zebra that escaped from a trailer east of Seattle last weekend remained on the lam Friday, as authorities closed off trailheads at a nature area in hopes of keeping people away and easing her capture.
An Israeli incursion in Rafah would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans at risk and be a huge blow to the aid operations of the entire enclave, the U.N. humanitarian office said on Friday, as the World Health Organization announced contingency plans for an incursion.
Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was seized with worry about the potential political damage from a tape that showed Trump bragging about grabbing women sexually without their permission, longtime Trump adviser Hope Hicks testified Friday at his hush money trial.
Police ordered pro-Palestinian protesters to clear out of a tent encampment at New York University early Friday, a move that follows weeks of demonstrations and police confrontations at college campuses nationwide that have resulted in more than 2,300 arrests.
They're lounging, biting each other and generally making a ruckus in numbers not seen in more than a decade. And don't even think about stealing their anchovies.
Foreign interference by China did not affect the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 general elections won by Justin Trudeau's Liberals, a federal commission of inquiry has found.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue released her interim report examining foreign election interference on Friday. Here are five elements of the issue that Hogue says she needs to further probe before she can make conclusions or recommendations.
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As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Google's preeminence as an internet search engine is an illegal monopoly propped up by more than US$20 billion spent each year by the tech giant to lock out competition, U.S. Justice Department lawyers argued at the closings of a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit.
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China on Friday launched a lunar probe to land on the far side of the moon and return with samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.
Quebec singing legend Celine Dion has praised a Montreal DJ for creating a mashup featuring one of her songs with U.K. producer Majestic.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
One of the organizers of a month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores says she met with the grocer's president and CEO Per Bank on Thursday afternoon.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Ontario is set to clamp down on bad employers with big fines. Labour Minister David Piccini says his government will introduce legislation next week that will see fines increased for violations of the Employment Standards Act.
Two registered nurses from Ottawa and Kingston have been an integral part in the delivery of a baby on board a flight heading to Dubai.
Italy's Ministry of Health has banned the popular wellness trend of "puppy yoga" amid concerns that the puppies used in the practice could be exploited and mistreated.
A Montreal astrologer and horoscope writer just got a boost on his retirement budget, after winning Loto-Quebec’s Grande-Vie prize, which comes in the form of $1,000 a day for life.
A funeral is being held today for hockey broadcasting legend Bob Cole in his hometown of St. John's, N.L.
The Los Angeles Lakers fired head coach Darvin Ham on Friday after two seasons and a 90-74 regular-season record.
Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets, Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks and Andrew Brunette of the Nashville Predators are the finalists for this season's Jack Adams Award.
Drivers in Saskatchewan will now lose their licence for a week and their vehicle for a month if they are caught committing certain high-speed and dangerous offences on the road.
Auto sales last month totalled 164,000 units, higher than April 2023, which was the weakest month for sales last year.
Rolls-Royce is vastly expanding its factory in Chichester, England. The BMW subsidiary is adding five new buildings with construction planned to start next year.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
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The suspect in a pair of stabbings in White Rock last week has been charged with second-degree murder.
A California man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for attempting to smuggle a ghost gun across the Canadian border last year, authorities announced Friday.
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Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
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Richelieu Hardware Canada Ltd. was fined a hefty $260,000 for a workplace safety violation leading to a serious worker injury.
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The Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia says it has recorded benzene levels 424 times above acceptable levels coming from a nearby chemical plant.
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